City offers update on Isaac debris clean-up

September 13, 2012

NEW ORLEANS, LA- Today, the City of New Orleans updated residents on post-Isaac debris and garbage clean up. Deputy Mayor for Operations Michelle Thomas is leading a comprehensive, cross-sector coalition of City departments, private contractors and public and private sector partners to clear the city of debris left behind by Hurricane Isaac.

The City and its partners have disposed of 85,874 cubic yard of debris. The City continues to deploy debris crews throughout New Orleans. The city is using newly acquired small equipment in order to clean the interior streets which may not have been previously serviced because large equipment could not maneuver them.

There are over 500 workers deployed today to remove debris, which includes City workers and contractors. Agencies participating in the clean-up include Parks and Parkways, Sanitation, Sewerage and Water Board, the Downtown Development District, City contractors, and the Louisiana National Guard.

“Our debris removal efforts continue in earnest,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Michelle L. Thomas. “We continue to utilize all the tools at our disposal and have doubled the number of resources and added hand-teams to sweep, rake and bag debris into loads that allow us to move towards completion of this clean-up . We are asking for continued patience and cooperation as we move as quickly as possible to remove all debris related to Hurricane Isaac.”

The City is also aggressively addressing trees damaged by the storm. Even if a tree did not fall over, it can still represent a very dangerous hazard to the public. The Department of Parks and Parkways has deployed workers throughout the city to rid neighborhoods of “hangers”- large hanging limbs and “leaners”- leaning trees.

Regular garbage pickup resumed on Friday, August 31 and is currently back on the normal schedule. Regular trash contractors have been instructed to pick up black bags. Black bags that were not collected on previous trash collection passes will be addressed in supplemental passes. In order to help the collection contractors differentiate storm debris from garbage, we ask that residents separate garbage and storm debris piles to make collection easier. The main reason for the separation is that various types of solid waste can only be disposed in certain landfills. Multiple passes are made by different vehicles to collect the various types of debris. Residents are reminded to please leave garbage curbside. Do not place debris and trash on the neutral ground.